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How can the creative textile artist or embroiderer achieve work that is distinctive, recognizable and individualistic? Their work, to the viewer, is immediately identifiable as one artist's attempt to make an expressive statement about their chosen theme. In this search for a means of personal expression, they will have developed their own method of working and this, combined with an assured use of colour and design, contributes to the characteristics which gives their work its personal voice or style. So how do some textile artists achieve this and why does their work stand out as different and unmistakable from other artists?
There are two main ways of achieving this result and the first is the artist's clear choice of theme and images. Very often they will work a series of pieces following a particular theme to which they are committed and which evolves over time. When you see their work in an exhibition, you recognize the images and relate them to the artist. The second distinctive feature of their work will be their choice of techniques and how the artists use and adapt them to convey their thoughts and feelings about the world around them. They have the ability to take an embroidery technique which a million other artists use and somehow make it uniquely their own. This sounds quite straightforward but it takes a lot of self-discipline and imagination and they have to persevere with their efforts. They make their chosen technique work for them. They dominate and control it, rather than the technique dominating them. It then becomes a vehicle for their own self-expression, their slave rather than their master.
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In most artistic disciplines, the artist settles down and learns how to paint in oils or water-colours or how to etch, carve in stone or model in clay. But, in the world of embroidery and textiles . . . well, it's a different story. There is so much more choice, from patchwork to goldwork, from printing to felt making, that it can be difficult to focus on just one approach. The danger is that you may flit from one technique to another and never zone in on one and really get to grips with it. I call this the butterfly approach to textile arts.
Let's say that you have made a start in a particular area that really excites you. Then trouble begins. You see a piece of work in an exhibition that catches your eye or a reproduction in a book that looks interesting 'I wonder how that is done?' Perhaps you attend a workshop and are introduced to a new technique that intrigues you. Maybe someone in your group arrives with 'the latest idea', the newest thread or, even more seductive, a visit to the Knitting & Stitching Show has drawn you to the luscious range of attractive goods for sale. You succumb and buy a whole variety of fascinating items. We all know the feeling, believe me.
This can present a big dilemma. Do you now switch techniques using some of your newly acquired purchases and try something different, or carry on? It's a great temptation. This, in my opinion, is textile art's major drawback. There are so many techniques to try that you can easily become wooed by the technique itself rather than asking yourself if this method of working is really appropriate for your subject matter. The individuality of the creative embroiderer becomes obscured by technique and that personal voice that will distinguish your work from your neighbour's in an exhibition will be smothered by the technique itself.
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All of us need time to master and develop a technique for our own use and make it work for us. It should become a tool to help us externalise our ideas and say something personal. We may dabble forever and never get focused, like the butterfly fluttering from one seductive flower to another.
Relatively few artists use hand stitching as the solo means of making marks on fabric but Audrey Walker and Dorothy Ann Daly take these traditional techniques and move them on in a personal way. Dorothy Ann's crochet piece 'Art Needlework' is a form of drawing which explores lines and connections referring to the network a person builds up through various human relationships. The length of time taken to produce this crocheted piece is also important and suggests the underlying span of time during which the artist moves through life interacting with people around her. The pure coloured lines of Audrey's threads as seen in, 'This is not an Apple', give substance to her ideas. Time invested in hand stitching is not a deterrent to her as she is quite prepared to cut up, reassemble and even abandon the piece. So she takes great risks and that is the underlying message. Take a technique, push it, pull it and make it your slave, then you will begin to use it imaginatively and for your own ends.
Stitch marks can also be seen in Maggie Henton's work 'Between Walls'. Here the stitching is in copper wire, which holds the pattern-cut panels together. The piece is arresting not only because Maggie is using unconventional materials to 'stitch' with, but also because she successfully expresses the relationship between the two separate elements in the work. They are separate but visually connected and they define the space between and around themselves. She has moved on beyond the expected, the safe, the predictable and has pushed her technique into new areas.
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Let's now look at a couple of artists who have developed free machine stitching into new avenues, giving it their own unique stamp. Although there are a variety of different stitches, your sewing machine will produce a similar stitch mark to other machines. So this is the challenge. How do you make your marks personal? Through experimentation and control, Saskia Pratt, a textile art graduate, has been able to produce an individual approach to her calligraphic theme 'Ancient Passages', by working layer upon layer of extremely dense stitching to produce a heavily textured surface. Carol Shinn, with her very intense surface-stitched areas in 'Truck Mirrors' again produces work that is identifiably hers as she allows the fabric to distort while she works.
Many artists will use a combination of techniques. Jeanette Appleton pushes felt making forward and uses her technique to express her feelings about space and time. In 'Islands', she uses the bonding of cloth and stitch within the felt surface to create qualities of perspective and scale. Jeanette constructs her fabric base, and Hilary Bower, whose work is also instantly recognizable, constructs 3D vessel-like structures. She expresses the idea of gathering, packing and carrying images and signs around her which she distills into her very personal approach to textiles.
Another form of constructing vessels is demonstrated in the work of Barbara Kay Casper, definitely an artist with a distinctive voice. In 'Trisidos II' she expresses her personal mythology through her chosen medium of weaving which is called weft and warp pulling. The weft is linen thread and the warp is telephone wire. The forms she creates transport, disperse and protect spirits, forces and natural phenomena that exist in nature. Lynn Creighton's work is also very individualistic as she creates intimate vignettes of the world around her with her textured surfaces. She combines many different materials, for example, handmade paper, copper wire, paint and dye which she melds together with machine and hand stitching, to create her own idiosyncratic voice in 'Winter'.
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My own work is moving in a new direction as I am experimenting with two very different techniques. I am enjoying the challenge of returning to my roots as an oil painter, while continuing my attachment to textiles. The idea to combine the two disciplines has been slowly evolving over time. Not only are the techniques visually contrasting but their method of production also presents strikingly different approaches. The contrast is fascinating because the paint is applied with a brush and the movement can be free and spontaneous. The textiles however, demand that wonderful 'hands-on' sensation that I love. So the aim is to combine the freedom and the splash of the paintbrush with the tactile, sensuous feeling of manipulating and constructing fabric panels. In 'Shoreline', the textured oil painted surfaces are juxtaposed with the textile areas. The latter are created with dyed fabrics, patched and pieced together and the texture is enhanced with machine and hand stitching.
Having looked at a few artists who have found their own voices in the world of textile art, my suggestion to you is to choose a certain technique that excites you and one that you want to take forward and develop. Whilst relating to your ideas, make it work for you. Of course there is a time to dabble and enjoy what's out there and one of the benefits of working in textile art, is that you will never become bored. If you have a mental block, there are plenty of avenues for you to explore. The horizons for experimentation and development are limitless. But to find your own personal voice and use embroidery and textiles as an expressive art form, you will need to pursue one technique and throw caution to the wind. Master your technique, take risks, break the boundaries, don't stick to the rules, make it become a vehicle for your ideas, so that you are not a slave to it. Be less of a butterfly and don't get too side-tracked. If you don't push yourself you will never know your capabilities.
This article is from The World of Embroidery, Volume 50 No.4, © Jae Maries.
highlights from July 1999 issue